Religion

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Most of the intelligent inhabitants of the Warhammer world are part of religious, spiritual, and quite superstitious societies who strongly believe in the existence of gods and goddesses. Most Warhammer societies and cultures are polytheists (i.e.: believe in several deities). As such many worship and honour many deities, pray to them, and when needed, invoke their attention, making promises, and/or making sacrifices to gain their favour.

The gods of Order and Law seem to be rather distant, generally not directly interfering on the sphere of mortals as a rule. They seem to favour civilization and stability as a whole. They, or better said their followers, usually cooperate in protecting civilization, aiding each other, and fighting as each other's side.


The gods of Disorder and Chaos seem to be more attentive to the pleas to their worshippers and much more wiling to interfere, but on the other hand seem to be much more fickle and unpredictable. Their gifts are mutation and power, but the price they demand is almost too high. Their ultimate goal is the casting down and destruction of civilization.

Their main weakness is that they fight each other more than they cooperate as each god wants to be the overall winner. Each of their mortal champions wants to be greater than all the others. Treachery, treason, in-fighting, and back-stabbing is always encouraged among the mortal followers of the Chaos gods. This ensures that they fight each other even more than against the followers of the gods of Law. Any alliance made between them is but temporary and prone to treachery.

To worship the gods of Chaos is forbidden in most civilized societies. The penalty for this crime is but one: death, preferably as painful as possible, burning being the most popular choice. Nevertheless there are numerous Chaos cults hidden among civilized societies.


Each god is responsible for certain aspects of reality.

Someone who is sick and ill might pray to Shallya, Goddess of Healing. Alternatively he might pray to Nurgle as his followers endure sickness. However as Nurgle is a god of Chaos his favour is dangerous to say the least.

A peasant hoping for good crops will likely make a promise to Taal. In the case of a good harvest the peasant repays the favour, offering Taal a small share of his crop as a symbolic sacrifice.

A warrior facing a battle might consider invoking Ulric, as Ulric is God of Battle, Wolves and Winter. Or he might ask for the favour of Myrmidia, as Myrmidia is the Goddess of Wisdom, Strategy, and Battle. Ulric is very popular in the north of the Old World while Myrmidia is more popular in the south.

Therefore the cultural background of the worshipper in question will very likely decide which god he will choose. He might even choose both of them.

This of course creates a certain rivalry and jealousy between the two gods and between their more dedicated worshippers and priests. Priests dedicate themselves into the service of a single god and will largely ignore all other deities. Extreme individuals (termed as fanatics) will even preach against the other gods and their followers.

However most of the time the worshippers of the gods of Law and Order will willingly cooperate, as these deities are staunch enemies of the gods of Chaos.

Two gods are known to be national patrons. Sigmar is the patron god of the Empire, and the Lady of the Lake is the patron goddess of Bretonnia in particular of its chivalry and nobility.

Different cultures tend to have different gods. Another point of view is that the gods are largely the same: they simply have different aspects: different bodies, looks, and names for different peoples.

While sporting several names, the basic characteristics of the four major Chaos gods are always the same.


Civilized but different races/societies tend to worship gods who at first glance seem to be not similar at all (i.e.: have nothing to do with each other). A High Elf will for obvious reasons not worship a human god.

However a very tiny minority seem to be truly international. Khaine is not only worshipped by the High Elves and the Dark Elves (and presumably also by the Wood Elves). He also is also adored by certain human assassins.

With exception to the gods of Chaos most societies tend to tolerate each others gods. However religious leaders many times also wield political power. As such self-righteous and/or ambitious individuals sometimes abuse their authority by preaching against other gods and incite their followers against the followers of other gods. This can lead to full-scale religious civil wars.